Wethead Cams issues.

[JimVonBaden]

Helped a friend with his GS. Both intake cams were starting to eat themselves. Small ridges on them, and the hardened surface was delaminating. This is not particularly unknown, though his were caught before they totally ate themselves. A while back I helped another friend when we found his totally eaten.



Tools used.




Swapped out both intake cams and checked the valve clearances, in spec. I also did the can timing check and adjust while I was there. Goth it in tope dead center, locked the motor and pulled it apart.











Make sure you check yours at least every 12K miles.

 

[FLY-DOG]

Jim,

That looks like corrosion on the end of the camshaft, photo-11?

 

[JimVonBaden]

Jim,

That looks like corrosion on the end of that camshaft, photo-11 ?

It is, like rust. Very strange inside a motor. My guess is that it was parked hot, on a cold humid day, and left for a month or more. The owner said he didn't ride it most of November and December.

 

[Limbow]

It is, like rust. Very strange inside a motor. My guess is that it was parked hot, on a cold humid day, and left for a month or more. The owner said he didn't ride it most of November and December.

Hey Jim, what year and how many miles?

 

[JimVonBaden]

Hey Jim, what year and how many miles?

2014 and 59K miles.

 

[LCGS]

I would guess the cams and followers were already disintegrating exposing the unhardened metals, thus the formation of rust.

I mean I don't start my bike for a month or three and no rust. And it does appear from the pictures that there is some oil cling on the walls of the cam cage and even on the spring tops, so it does not look like it was completely dry.

Jim do you have parts cost, and is he asking for any goodwill help from BMW?

 

[FLrider]

That's some serious wear and tear... Any news on the later bikes having that issue? So far my 2018 with 42K is looking good...

 

[JimVonBaden]

I would guess the cams and followers were already disintegrating exposing the unhardened metals, thus the formation of rust.

I mean I don't start my bike for a month or three and no rust. And it does appear from the pictures that there is some oil cling on the walls of the cam cage and even on the spring tops, so it does not look like it was completely dry.

Jim do you have parts cost, and is he asking for any goodwill help from BMW?

You could very well be right about that. The exhaust cams, and other parts had no rust at all. The followers were good. Parts were about $450 per cam, and $25 per follower. So just at $1000. At 59K miles, and on an 8 year old bike, nothing from BMW at all, except a bill. Bob's BMW found it, and didn't even recommend the owner not ride it. I told him not to until we could get it fixed. Labor would surely have been more than $500. It took us 3 hours, including an oil change and dropping and lubing the FD splines and FD oil change.

In my past experience, the dealer would have wanted to change all 4 cams and followers, with a total cost of around $3400.

 

[JimVonBaden]

That's some serious wear and tear... Any news on the later bikes having that issue? So far my 2018 with 42K is looking good...

Seems most common between 2014 and 2018. Later bikes it happens, but not often. Even earlier bikes it is not common.

 

[Camhead64]

My 2018RT cams went bad in 4,800 miles. Keep an eye on them.

 

[FLrider]

^ That's why I got the extended warranty for my bike. My brother did the same as we both plan on keeping them for quite a while..